Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates to Network Address Translation (NAT) generally, and controlling access to a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server in particular.
Technical Background
In some circumstances, it may be desirable for two computers to directly communicate with one another. As non-limiting examples, such direct communications may be for purposes of file sharing or communicating with text, voice, and/or video. Direct connections may increase connection speed, thus facilitating real-time communications. For example, Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) enables browser-to-browser applications that may employ direct connections for voice calling, video chat, and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing.
In many cases, such direct communications are impeded by the use of a Network Address Translation (NAT) system or a firewall system between the two computers. These systems can prevent communications attempts into a network that they protect, such as an enterprise network. A solution to this problem is a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server, which may allow for a client behind a NAT or firewall to receive incoming data. The TURN server may act as a relay node and may accept connections to the client. All incoming communications for the connection travel through the TURN server, which relays the communications to the client.
Although the TURN server can be used to traverse around NAT or firewall systems, the use of a TURN server may create its own problems. For instance, using a TURN server may yield a relatively high consumption of both network bandwidth and computing resources. As a result, it may be necessary to control access to the TURN server by, for example, requiring a TURN client to provide a userid/password combination. However, requiring a userid/password combination may limit usability of the TURN server by restricting access only to trusted TURN clients, and/or may expose userid/password combinations to non-trusted users in a manner that may be maliciously exploited.